They are more ideal in England, more practical in France. The Englishman thinks, “If I were called upon to make sacrifices for my country I would certainly make them.” No doubt he would, but most Englishmen pass through life without being obliged to make any patriotic sacrifice except the payment of taxes, and the French are taxed still more heavily, even in money. [Sidenote: English Patriotism Reliable.] [Sidenote: A Peculiar Danger.] English patriotism may be absolutely relied upon by the Government so far as the sentiment is concerned, and the consequent willingness to accept the burden of practical duty in a time of national calamity; but the danger is that the calamity might be sudden, in which case the efforts of a national patriotism would be unorganised and the patriots themselves untrained. [Sidenote: The Volunteers.] [Sidenote: The Militia.] The sense of this danger produced the volunteer movement, which was excellent as an example and as an exercise of patriotic feeling; but if we compare the English volunteers with any one of the great Continental armies, we see at once that their value is moral rather than material. The militia is less an affair of patriotic sentiment and more of an ordinary military institution. It is a sort of reserve answering in the length of its annual exercises to the French _réserve de l’armée active_, but with this important difference, that the militiamen have not necessarily passed through the regular army, and their officers have not necessarily received a military education. Some men and some officers have these advantages, but only by accident. [Sidenote: Military Opinion.] [Sidenote: The English Army Professional.] Neither the militia nor the volunteers are taken seriously by the regular army in England, so that the sentiment of patriotic duty which exists in them does not receive that full encouragement which would be desirable for its maintenance. The English army is a special profession, it is not the nation, and its feelings, though patriotic, are at the same time strictly professional. The regulars look upon the militia and volunteers as professional artists look upon meritorious amateurs, that is to say, at the best with good-natured indulgence, and at the worst with undisguised contempt. [Sidenote: The Old Purchase System.] [Sidenote: Social Distinction of Rich Officers.]